Mercy

I looked up at Bane, who had immediately taken flight and was now more than ten meters in the air. He was quick to figure out that he wasn't a match for me. I was surprised that he had already collected a defensive item that was capable of knocking me back, but it obviously had a long cooldown. I could deduce that just by seeing how quickly that bastard ran away. I stood up and dusted myself off as I watched Walter charge at me and Cassidy knock an arrow into her bow.

"It's useless; I doubt you'd be able to kill me with your weak stats."

Two arrows flew at me, both of which I deflected with ease. A moment after they were deflected, Walter reached me and attempted a tackle. I did a simple sidestep and brought my knee straight up into his stomach. He spun into the ground headfirst and tumbled into a tree as two more arrows flew at my head.

"Really?"

I caught these two arrows right before they made contact with my skin and then dashed towards Cassidy. I stabbed both arrows into her left and right elbows, disabling her use of the bow.

"You're fucked already; just stay here."

I looked up and expanded my senses to try and find Bane, but he had already disappeared.

"Shit, you two made me lose him!"

Walter stood up and looked around. "What the fuck, Bane?! Don't just abandon us like this!"

Cassidy looked up at me from the ground. "Why did you attack us? We don't even know you!"

I shrugged. "I saw the remnants of your battle from earlier; you were attacking my friend."

Walter angrily responded, "You have no proof of that."

My wrist started to buzz as Tim's face bulged out of the smart watch and I looked at Walter. "He's a seer; he sees stuff. He knows what you've been up to." Tim then looked up at me. "So Ron, want me to tell them to fuck off?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "It's all good, Tim; I'm just going to kill them. These two are not worth my time trying to reform."

Cassidy fell on her knees and looked up at me. "Please don't! Please! I'll do anything; at least let me live! I haven't even done anything! It was Bane and the twins; I just hung around them to survive!"

Walter looked at Cassidy with malice in his eyes. "How can you say that? You fucking bitch, you're just as dirty as I am." Walter then turned to me and softened his look. "Hey, I'm useful; I'll do what you say; just don't kill me. We can talk this out, can't we?"

I felt a familiar presence coming from the southwest and smiled. "I'll think about it, but I might need a second opinion." I looked to the southwest and shouted, "Hey, Punisher! What do you think?"

There was a long pause before I heard him shout back, "Fuck you, Walter."

A condensed ball of purple energy, about the size of a bowling ball, rocketed through the air and crashed into Walter's head, causing it to violently explode. The lifeless body fell to the ground in front of Cassidy, who started to cry as she looked up at me.

"Please!"

I looked down at her and thought of all the evil deeds I remembered that Cassidy Green was convicted of in my past life. All of them were things that happened after the first season of the games. Could I really execute her for crimes she hadn't committed yet? Walter openly stated that she was just as dirty as he was, and that implied that they had committed crimes already. I knew that they had just tried to kill my best friend as well, so maybe I should just kill her.

I looked over to Punisher. "Hey man, fucking good shot. That was pretty dope."

Punisher blew the smoke from the end of his pistol. "I know, I'm pretty hot right now."

"So what should we do about her?" I pointed my thumb at Cassidy Green and said, "I don't want to kill people if I can help it."

Punisher nodded. "Then don't."

In one swift moment, I watched as he brought up his gun and fired a perfect shot between Cassidy's eyes, killing her instantly.

"I'll do the killing. You just focus on the monsters." Punisher smiled and said, "I didn't kill her for no reason. Those guys were planning on hunting you down, Ronan. They wanted to kill you before the Veldans or the Alorae took the lead by snuffing you out."

Watching Punisher mercilessly kill Cassidy Green caused me to freeze up for a moment. I had forgotten that we were not in a normal world where normal rules applied. I want to do what is morally right, but I can't forget what my purpose here is. I know the future; I know how bad things are going to get. I need to put aside my morality in some cases in order to bring about the best future possible.

"Thanks, Pun, you're helping me keep my thoughts in order."

"Anytime, Ronan." Punisher holstered his gun. "So what the fuck now?"

"What now? Well, that's a good question." I looked at the dead bodies of Walter Hughes and Cassidy Green and began to think about what to do next. I could try to hunt down Bane, but he was slippery and would eat up a lot of precious time. I knew where I could find him in the future, and there is a good chance he wouldn't want to fight with me now that he's got a better grasp of what I'm capable of.

Another option would be to go hunt for the other two boss monsters. In the past, the Veldans ended up defeating the Thornheart Queen on the fourth week, and the Bracken Colossus was slain by the Alorae on the sixth week. A lot of the competition from that point on was searching for the Verdant Leviathan and killing members of other races.

My eyes lit up as I realized where I needed to go next. "Hey Punisher, I found a campsite where I want you to meet some sharp shooters. After that, I have to go find a certain blacksmith. You're welcome to tag along."

"Sure. And can you tell me how the fuck you knew about all this on the way to the camp?"

I laughed. "Sure, I'll tell you what happened. And Tim, get ready for the real story."

Tim's face bulged out of the smartwatch again and looked pissed. "I can't believe you'd lie to me! You fucker, I knew something was up!"

Punisher jumped back. "Holy shit, your watch is talking!"

"Of course I talk! All smart watches do."